Case NOT Closed

Time passed quickly, and before they knew it, it was the day of the trial for the case of Natsuki Koshimizu.

The trial was scheduled for 01.30 in the afternoon.

At eight in the morning, Kensuke went to the detention center again, met with the defendant again, and told her about the real culprit.

“Is that so?”

After listening to Kensuke’s words, Natsuki’s expression seemed surprised.

“So…. You mean, Conan’s deduction was wrong, and the truth is that I didn’t kill Tokuya? I just knocked him unconscious, and then Tsuchio came in through the window and finished him off?”

“That’s right, Hiroo Tsuchio himself has admitted it,” Kensuke nodded.

“However, you still committed the crime of attempted murder. If you want to accuse the real culprit, you can’t escape this charge. But in the trial this afternoon, as long as you do as I say, you won’t go to jail.”

“I see…”

Natsuki muttered to herself, seeming thoughtful.

After hesitating for a moment, she hesitantly said, “Is there a possibility, I mean just a possibility, that I, indeed, killed Tokuya, and even though Conan’s puzzle wasn’t complete, he still identified the culprit correctly?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Kensuke frowned slightly, then chuckled.

“It would be a different story if the one who deducted it is a professional detective, but it’s just brats, one is a seven years old elementary schooler, while the other is just a high schooler, the only reason why the judge doesn’t dismiss their claim is because no one bother to fight back.”

“Um, actually—”

“You bastard, who are you calling a brat!”

Before Natsuki could finish speaking, a furious voice with a Kansai accent suddenly came from the direction of the door.

Turning around, they saw Heiji Hattori, the one that Kensuke called a highschooler brat, glaring at them with a fierce look on his face.

Standing next to him was the familiar elementary school student, Conan, who always looked calm with his hands in his pockets.

They were brought here by the duty police officers from the detention center.

“Oh, it’s you two again?”

Kensuke raised an eyebrow. “Kid, it’s still time for school, why are you both here? Won’t you get punished by your parents for skipping class?”

“You unscrupulous lawyer, if you keep talking nonsense, I’ll punch you!”

Hattori’s temperament was still impulsive.

He stared at Kensuke, his eyes as wide as a bull’s, and he fiddled with his finger joints, making a creaking sound.

“Uaa~ How scary, I didn’t tell a single lie though?”

Kensuke looked at him fearlessly.

“You may think of yourself as some famed detective whose deduction is taken as solid evidence, but at the end of the day, you are just a brat who is being used as a reason for the police to quickly close a case and move on with their lives.”

“You–!”

“Heiji, Stop.” Cutting into Hattori’s enraged shout, Conan laid a hand on the tanned man leg, making the Kansai detective’s body still for a moment, before he took a deep breath and began to calm himself down.

“Komemon-san, we are already familiar with each other’s methods, you don’t need to play your tricks anymore.”

He said coldly, “Manipulating people with words has always been your method, but I won’t fall for it.”

“Oh? Very well then” Kensuke shrugged with a small smile, then, with a tilt of his head, he continued. “Hey kid, mind telling me why you are here? Surely it’s not to do some underhanded trick on my client, right?”

Without replying to Kensuke’s inquiry, Conan turned his head toward Natsuki.

“Koshimizu-san, have you thought about what we talked about last time? Have you made your decision yet?”

Nanatsuki nodded. “Yes, after your last visit, I’ve thought about a lot of things, but in the end, I’ve decided to leave everything to my defense attorney.”

“I see…” Conan seemed somewhat disappointed.

He glanced at Kensuke and shook his head.

“Koshimizu-san, you shouldn’t have chosen him. Regardless of the reason, you still ultimately took a life, violated societal order, and your own conscience. You should repent in prison, that’s the only way to have a regret-free life afterwards.”

“Regret-free life? What a load of bull, that’s a lie and you both know it.” Before Nanatsuki could speak, Kensuke’s voice cut in from the side.

He looked at Conan with a smirk on his face.

“Detective-kun, tell me, are you really so idle as to persuade an innocent girl to spend years in prison just to receive praise from some adult police?”

“I–Innocent!? She killed someone! She admitted it herself that day, she’s a murderer!” Conan’s voice suddenly rose.

His face flushed slightly, his emotions fluctuating.

Kensuke raised his eyebrow. “Murderer? Who says so? You? So what if she said she killed him? Peer pressure is a thing you know? No decent judge would accept a confession of a suspect who are being put under pressure.”

“You–! She herself admitted to her murder! Murderers should repent in prison! They must go to jail! They must!” Conan shouted.

He suddenly turned his head, staring intensely at Kensuke.

“Komemon-san, I ask you, have you seen a murder scene? If yes, how many times have you seen it?”

At this moment, Conan’s demeanor began to change slightly, not as calm as before.

“I am a detective, and so far, I have seen countless murder scenes.”

“Those murder scenes are various, some were drowned in agony, some had their heads severed, some were burned alive, the scene of their murder are all gruesome.”

“Those whose heads were severed have their blood flowed and coagulate on their bodies, their flesh mangled, and swarms of mosquitoes swarmed around them.”

“Those who are drowned have their bodies swelled by bacteria, making them look grotesque. When their corpses are being collected, it’s swollen and emitted a putrid stench.”

“Those who are being burnt alive all have their subcutaneous tissues charred, their fingers are broken as they keep thrashing in pain, their face contorted in agony before death.”

“Till this day, I still don’t understand, I still can’t comprehend it, why would someone want to kill, why can people easily take others’ lives?”

“What is life to these people?”

“I didn’t understand, no, I will never understand.”

As if he had been struck by something, Conan kept muttering out such word, seeming to be both questioning Kensuke, and also affirming himself.